Wyoming wildlife

 

we woke to a bright sunday morning.

relaxing in the village square,

we drank tea and watched the sun rise,

creating a vision of autumn colors:

 

 

I sat pondering the fact that we’d seen zero wild animals

in Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Parks.

a testament to the challenges of keeping things ‘wild’ in our National Park System?

on the road back to Jackson, however, we saw these two buffalo snoozing.

exciting.

 

 

and this moose, unknowingly being ‘shot’ by a handful of travelers.

albeit their weapons were Nikons and Canons…

 

 

and last but not least, the vicious and oh so scary black doggy species.

yikes.

don’t get too close!

 

 

along the ride back home we stopped along the crystal clear waters

of the Snake River, watching the fisherman unload their catch.

they pulled out a few nice cutthroat to show us.

 

 

and then back to Utah we went,

to the not so wild life…

 

Yellowstone National Park.

from Grand Teton National Park we headed north through the

Targhee and Bridger Teton National Forests.

trees and trees and trees for miles and miles…

 

and miles…

  

with little time, we headed straight up to Old Faithful.

who, apparently, is not as faithful as he’s cracked up to be.

here’s a pic of Bijou yelling at him for being 15 minutes early,

so that we were forced to witness only the tips of his grandeur…

over the tree tops,

from the parking lot!

 

 

with just a couple of hours to spare,

we drove a short way north to Midway Geyser Basin,

where you stroll along a boardwalk…

 

 

admiring the crystal blue waters of

Excelsior Basin.

 

and then continuing along the path up through the misty expanse

 

toward Grand Prismatic Spring.

the ‘largest and most beautiful hot spring in the park’,

according to National Geographic.

except…

with the steam, you could only see the runoff streaming underneath.

the camera was able to capture even more than I could really see.

papooey!

 

 

 

on the walk back across the boardwalk loop and out of the steamy mist,

you finally spy something fully visible,

the ‘Turquoise Pool’.

  

 

and so was our tiny little teaser visit into Yellowstone National Park.

we’ll be returning again soon, no doubt.

(we’re coming back for YOU Old Faithful!)

Teton National Park

along the way out of Teton Village,

we spotted this hot air balloon about to go up. 

imagine the view - cruising gently and silently through the crisp morning air.

    

 

on the north side of Jackson we ran into the usual string of cars,

randomly parked along the roadside gawking at some wild animal.

so we pulled over as well, and were elated to see

two massive wolves bounding across the road and into the fields.

my mouth was agape in awe.

by the time I gathered myself enough to grab the camera,

this was the only blurry, out of range, shot I could manage:

  

 

and yes, if you look closely, the wolf is wearing a collar. 

I learned that there is one black wolf and 4 grey wolves in the Pinnacle Peak pack,

which roam the area just north of Jackson and the Elk Refuge.

what an INCREDIBLE moment.

I was miffed about my less than stellar camera skills,

so i followed the black wolf down onto a private road full of beautiful homes. 

I ended up in a driveway a mile out of view of anything,

just searching for that beautiful animal,

standing on the roof of my car to find it.

after 1/2 an hour - no luck with the wolf,

but once I turned around, saw this view.

 that works.

 

 

driving up through Teton National Park is awesome,

in every sense of the word.

its such a striking and inspiring setting.

I couldn’t help but snap a ton of photos of these magnificent peaks.

from land,

 

 

and from sea.

just kidding… that’s Jenny Lake.

 

 

after taking all those pics, I started to grow weary,

so I stopped to ask one of the locals

‘which way to starbucks?’ 

she looked at me, laughed, and I swear I heard her mumble..

‘ha. out of towner.’ 

 

 

heading north through the park we stopped on the shores of Jackson Lake

to contemplate life in the reflection of Mount Moran.

  

 

then hiked around the grounds of Jackson Lake Lodge,

it was very ‘The Shining’-esque having been closed up for winter.

my favorite kind of tourist spot…

one without tourists!

and just when I thought I couldn’t possibly take one more photo of the vast Teton expanse,

I turned around and looked up at the mirrored Lodge windows

and shot a little self portrait,

as a reminder of the moment.

   

 

BLISS.

off to Jackson.

 

with the autumnal aspens still clinging to the last of their leaves,

we hopped in the car and headed north to Jackson

for a weekend of exploration in the Tetons.

 

 

our first stop in Wyoming was for a not so friendly man dressed in a suit and hat,

who flashed a bunch of lights at us and made us pull over to the side of the road. 

not so fun.

our second stop in Wyoming was to visit these two lovely creatures,

who basked in the warm rays of the evening sunset.

definitely more fun.

 

 

we arrived in Teton Village in the dark of nite,

where a few deer waited just at the lobby doors to greet us.

thanks to our good friends at the Teton Mountain Lodge & Spa,

we checked into our super fancy pants, incredibly luxurious, dog friendly suite,

had a glass of wine (or two… maybe) and then hit the hay.

 

in the morning we woke to a view of the rising sun over the eastern hills

and the trails of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort just steps away. 

  

  

SPOILED! 

(just how we like it.)

Wyoming.

Wyoming has a lot of…

antlers.

 

 

test photo with the new iphone camera.

not bad!